worse, the members of the media who seemed to care more about the impact on the lives of the rapists than on the girl who was the victim. and on the outside radius of this circle, we see a whole community that glorified macho football culture, and made fallible teenage boys into heroes? is that really as far as that circle spreads, though? media accounts inevitably talk about the unique city, an industrial city in appalachia, noting the slide into depression. the football team too many primacy, central to the town's pride and character. it's an important element of the story, but makes us feel that these people aren't like us. i don't have the luxury of separation. i lived for years in a town just up the river. i went to see bill clinton speak. found out for sure i was pregnant for the first time at a doctor's office in the creaky downtown. i was just in the area two weeks ago to celebrate my daughter's

birthday with old neighbors and friends. what you might be struck by most if you were to visit is how genuine how kind, how open, how sincere. that's what struck me. in fact, this town is like your hometown, this high school is like your high school. something here went horribly wrong and it could go horribly wrong where you live too. yesterday i saw this headline -- another football player accused of rape. another community blaming the victim. this isn't a football sure, not a social media issue, it's an american issue, an-mile-an-hour issue that in 2013 we still live in a country where too many tolerate blaming the rape victim and calling her a whore, where a boys will be boys attitude about rape and a wink and nod for covering up for men in positions in power. folks, you and i own this culture. we can't allow these attitudes to persist. if we do, the circle of

culpability radiating out from two football players in steubenville, ohio, will have all of our names written on it. all right. that does it for us here at "the cycle". thank you for the sober commentary krystal, and extend a welcome to ari mel better. good afternoon. the house republicans have passed another pointless paul ryan budget, about to curbing gun violence, they are virtually silent. those who adhere to the ideology of rejecting israel's right to exist, they might as well reject the earth beneath them or the sky above, because israel is not going anywhere. >> think about newtown. think about newtown. >> they should do a real background check on everyone. congress just has to get some courage. >> i'm really ashamed to see that congress doesn't have the

guts to stand up and make a change. >> it's time for the political establishment to show the courage your daughter showed. >> this is part of the lively debate that we talked about. friendship photo ops. >> i have to say we arranged for that, because it made me feel at home. i wouldn't feel comfortable if i didn't have at least one heckler. there are critical conversations going on today about this country's foreign policy, the direction of its economy, and the security of it is citizens. the president is in israel, where he delivered a major speech calling again for a two-state solution in the middle east. in congress, house republicans successfully parsed paul ryan's third budget blueprint, likely to never become law. but we begin with a moment

of deep frustration this week. after an assault weapons ban was dropped from senate legislation, while two top gun reform advocates continue to push for reform. in new york earlier today, vice president joe biden and new york city mayor michael bloomberg held a press conference with families of the sandy hook elementary school massacre. delivering a unified message to congress -- get some guts. >> it's time for the political establishment to show the courage your daughter showed. >> quite honestly, i'm really ashamed to see that congress doesn't have the guts to stand up and make a change and put a ban on these types of weapons and universal background checks. >> congress just has to get some courage and it's up to us as americans and as fellow human beings to sort of give them that courage. >> mayor bloomberg urged

concerned citizen to call their members of congress and tell them, this issue is a deal breaker to get their votes. as vice president biden pointed out, communication about these issues is also a big part of the problem. >> the american people, a significant number, already thing there are universal background checks. they already thing that anyone who buys multiple guns has to be reported. >> what we are proposing is simply common sense. >> indeed it is, even house speaker john boehner has proven vulnerable to the common sense that biden refers to. in an interview just yesterday afternoon. >> they should actually do a real background check on everyone, and maybe the department of justice ought to enforce the law. unfortunately, when he says something sensible, speaker boehner usually has to walk it back or face the fury of his party. in this case, boehner's office

r50e67d out to say that he only supports the background checks currently on the books, knolls a real background check on everyone like those buys guns, for example, at gun shows. don't be silly. of course, after all, only 91% of americans support that. that's not a politically viable position at all. but as speaker boehner was tucking his courage away like a soiled handkerchief, one newtown mother was finding the bravely to speak out. lynn mcdonald's 7-year-old daughter grace was one of the 20 children slain in their classroom. today she had just one small request for lawmakers. >> to ask themselves if they are doing enough to brings about real and meaningful change, and if they are not, to ask themselves why not? >> why not, indeed.

joining us is chris van hollen, democrat of maryland and ranking member of the house budget committee. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon, martin. are you able to explain how republicans spend their time repeatedly voting through mr. ryan's budgets that don't add up, that strip 40 million people of their health care, yet they are virtually silent on the issue of gun violence, they expend all their energy on something that will never become law ever, yet do absolutely nothing even after 20 babies are murdered in a classroom? >> well, martin, you're absolutely right. today we voted once again on the republican/ryan budget that was thoroughly rejected by the american people last election. mitt roll any and paul ryan talked about the approach to the budget issues, the people in

this country clearly said they didn't want to go in that direction. yesterday there was a vote on the house floor for that, unfortunately it passed with a lot of tea party members in the house. at the same time we still have not gotten a vote on common sense gun safety measures, the most obvious one being universal background checks, and as you said, speaker boehner had to walk back a proposal which called for the common-sense solution, because the tea party and others apparently bombarded his office when he made sense on this issue. so, look, the answer to this will require the american people to remain engaged and to demand that the victims in newtown, the victims in aurora, the victims of other mass shootings, and those who die every day from gun violence, that they get a vote in the house of representatives. >> but here's the problem, congressman. the polls is on the side of these common-sense measures.

57% support an assault weapons ban. 91% support background checks at gun shows. how on earth do you explain this gap between what the people of this great nation want and what our elected officials are prepared to do? there just seems to be a complete disconnect between these two truths. >> well, number one, martin, i am encouraged at least with the universal background check, that we will get a good vote out of the united states senate. we could be sure unless we keep the pressure on, but i am very hopeful that we will. then the issue is, as you said, making sure that speaker boehner and the republicans in the house allow us a vote on that. i hope we can also get out of the senate the provisions against gun trafficking, and the limit on the number of bullets in a magazine, and force a vote in the united states house on that. i was discouraged, too, about

the fact that they don't have the votes on the military-style semiautomatic assault weapons ban. there had be a vote, i understand, on that amendment, and it's really important that people call their members of the congress, members of the senate, and let them know. what happens here is the small group of people who are so dead-set against some of these measures, they are calling furiously, because the gun lobbyists in washington, d.c. are calling to tell them and misrepresent that people will take away their guns, so we need the overwhelming public to call in and demand action. >> i hate toe cynical, congressman, but it does seem to have also some to do with money. politico reports that the nra is having its best fund-raising in a decade. it backends the month with a $4 million war chess. the donations include a $2,500 contribution to house speaker john boehner.

could this perhaps explain would you say the speaker has to walk back his sensible comments for fear of losing that kind of financial support? >> well, i think what you've got is a republican party that is being gripped by a small minority. clearly a well-funded gun lobby in washington, d.c. you know, martin, i don't know how i got on the list, but i got a letter at home in the mail from the nra, saying, you know, dear van hollen, the gold's coming to take away all your guns and they're going to strip away your second amendment rights, you better send some money into the nra headquarters in washington right away so we can protect you against that kind of taking. that's what the nra is doing. they're using the scare tactics, fearmongering as a recipe for generating huge amounts of money

here in washington, which they give in the form of political contributions to people to try and have it their way. >> it is absolutely remarkable today, sir, we see parents who lost their children, and members selfthe house who appear unmoved -- unmoved by what they ask their elected representatives. it just seems incredible. >> well, i think that the president said it best when he came before the congress in his state of the union address, and he pointed to some of the victims that were in the house gallery. he said to congress very bluntly, the people of newtown and others, they deserve a vote. at least don't try and hide behind your desks. don't try and run away from accountability. vote in the light of day. you know, if you're going to vote against a common-sense universal background check, at least have the decency to look

people in the eye when you vote no, when you vote for the gun lobby, when you vote against 90% of the american people, and even a majority of gun owners in this country who support background checks, universal background checks. so that's what we have to demand. we have to demand at the very least enough respect for the american people that congress will take a vote on these issues and not high from them. >> we can only hope. chris van hollen, thank you, sir. >> thank you, martin. will this doctor be in if reps call in the future? stay with us. "wall street journal," ben carson for president, you're retiring as a surgeon this summer. what do you make of it? will you get into politics? >> it's not my intention to do that. but as i always say in every part of my life, i'll leave that up to god. [ mom ] 3 days into school break and they're already bored.

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do you remember this? >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> oh, how about this? >> 47% with with him who are -- who believe they are victims. >> it's hardly surprising that this week's autopsy on the republican party's performance at the last election has been acutely critical of the kind of statements that were made by a number of candidates. the report also mentioned the gop is generally regarded as stuffy, full of old men, narrow minded and out of touch. but today the answer to all their problems could be staring

them in the face on the front page of "new york times." yes, dr. ben carson is a pediatric neurosurgeon and therefore unlikely to make diabolical comments. he's african-american, and therefore embody the desire for greater inclusiviveness. he hates the affordable care act. he's written a book sbilded "america the beautiful" and is wondering at the age of 61, what he might do when he retires from medicine, as he hinted during a speech to cpac. >> let's say you magically put me, you know, into the white house. >> joining me now is david corn, washington bureau chief of "mother jones" magazine. and joy reid, managing editor of the grio.

he ticks every single one of the boxes. the only person that i thought embodied everything that they complain about is dr. ben carson. stop laughing, corn. we haven't even come to you yet. >> just getting ready. >> the problem is solved. god bless america. it is interesting that the party that is against affirmative action gets so hot and boder if anyone brown or black or woman. in positions, and black conservatives really understand, i think, in a very real way that they have a great opening in a party like that. alan west became an instant star. mr. herman cain became an instant star. at one point he was at the top of the list of people when you polled republicans. there's still people who want

allan west to be president. ben carson has an added benefit. he hasn't been caught up in the republican party bad brand problems. a lot of people didn't even know he was a conservative. he also has a book to sell. he's going to sell a lot. >> you're being far to ironic and cynical. david, is it not possible that an individual like dr. ben carson could well, i don't know, become a potential presidential nominee? herman cain was in the running at one point. >> yes, i mean, herman cain makes him look like linking in a lot of ways in terms of political experience as well. he has a few, you know, down sides already. he's already said that he's opposed to medicare and medicaid. he'd like to get rid of those programs. so if the republicans want to nominate a guy, even if he's black, even if he's a doctor, who wants to get rid of medicare, they're welcome to try that. i don't know where it says in

the autopsy report that that's the way for them to go. >> no, but david, he is a highly respected pediatric neurosurgeon. >> yes. >> a storied career. >> and -- >> a remarkable life story. >> yes. >> it appeals in all kinds of ways action you know, to the republican concerns that they have about resolve, independence and all the rest of it. he does seem like an appropriate individual, does he not? >> and rand paul was an ophthalmologist. yes, he has at first glance, he does have a lot of characteristics, and i can see why the rep basened and for reasons joy outlined as well would grave at a time towards him. as we saw with herman cain and others who try to parachute in at the very top of the political pyramid, it's often perilous. we don't know anything else or much about him. he's never been tested in this ways, and i welcome his attempt to start playing in the majors in the world series without even

going through aaa ball. i think republican establishment taerns will be cautious about putting someone like that out front too soon, but the base may rally. they're not going to go for jeb bush, that's for sure. >> poor jeb. martin, i think you hit on something that's really true. a lot of time there's an intangible, a charisma. whatever the report said, what the republican party is missing is a person, a personality who can unify the christian conservative base, the libertarian base, the people who just want to stop spending and of course the corporate wing of the party who can bring them together with a message that would appeal outside the party, who doesn't seem scary or personal story or presentation is so compelling that it draws people in. >> that's why people are thinking he's a possibility. >> it doesn't hurt he's a minority. it's not a bad idea at all to

find what barack obama did within the democratic party, unified the dlc win with the liberate wing. it's not insane. >> we still need to hear a bit more about some of his ideas. >> yes. >> before advising the republican party to embrace him. >> okay. david, but maybe the reason so many conservatives have become no enamored is because you will not catch him saying things like this. take a listen to michele bachmann today. >> the american people especially vulnerable women, vulnerable children, vulnerable senior citizens now get to pay more and they get less. that is why we're here. because we're saying let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. let's not do that.

let's love people. let's care about people. let's repeal it now while we can. >> david, i'm sorry to subject you to listens to that, but it's one thing to say europosed to the affordable care act. it's quite another to suggest that that legislation will kill you, isn't it? >> can we just skip to the next segment? listening to that is about as disheartening as it gets in terms of trying to have decent political discourts in this country or even on cable tv. i mean, it -- it may play in her district. i get about 17 e-mails a day from michele bachmann's mailing list with her saying dire things about how they're coming to get her. no doubt this is fearmongering at the highest order, but i have to say at the same time, dr. carson has a similar message, in that medicare and the obama health care policy ought to be fully repealed as well. he just said it in a bit of a

nicer way. it remains to be seen if the republicans can make any headway beating this dead horse. some people in the republican party have said quite overtly, stop it, we've lost, we're moving on, rep governors are accepting the medicaid expansion. this is kind el knee ander that will retrograde politics on the part of michele bachmann. >> what's your reaction? she appears to be consistently now openly flagrantly lying about virtually everything. >> yeah, i mean, i'm disheartened that you can say something like that and not be censured for it. she's saying that the president signed into law a piece of legislation that will kill children? >> that is what she said. >> you're missing the ice flow provision. >> the bottom line is she's a joke. i don't think very many people -- >> she's a member of the house, joy. and she was reelected.

>> and part of the tea party caucus. >> it says a lot about people who vote for folks like this. you have a lot of clowns, a lot of extremists, people who can't be taken seriously, increasingly including paul ryan and his crazy budgets, but you have a part of the republican party who wants to be a serious player in the national politics. they're going to have to find someone, not a michelle bulk manner, not sarah palin. they need to find someone intelligent who can articulate positions in a way that don't sound crazy, that don't accuse the president of murder or call him a terrorist. we're not sure who can do it. they've got to find someone and they've got to do it soon. >> the impossible job. david corn and joy reed, thank you both. coming up, the president takes his message to a group of young people and feels right at home. stay with us. we don't have it. you don't even know my name.

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from the president heckled at home aabroad to a stunning lack of courage on guns. here are today's top lines. beelz bub. >> we cannot give up on the search to peace. >> faux friendship photo ops. he shouldn't have gone in the first place. >> this is part of the lively debate we talked about. >> i wouldn't feel comfortable if i didn't have at least one heckler. >> a deranged man walked into sandy hook elementary with a weapon of war. >> i'm not going to lay down and play dead. >> everyone's going to have to stand up and say yay or nay. >> do you think improving background checks might be part of that. >> they should do a real background check on everyone.

>> he did not mean thinks there should be new background checks. >> good point of clarification. >> congress doesn't have the guts to stand up and make a change. >> we congratulate mr. ryan and the budget committee. vote for the ryan budget. >> we wanted to ask congresswoman bachmann about the fast-break as. >> the fact that he has a dog walker, which is not true. this is a trivial pursuit. >> he definitely looks like barack obama. >> it does look very, very much -- >> i turned to my wife and said whoa. >> great religions, judaism, christianity and islam that seems jerusalem as -- the story of the exodus. >> if satan had a son, would he look like the guy? itches just as josh way carried on after moses. >> no one is calling him the devil. >> you can put it on your screen. >> is there something else i can

do to mott make these guys paint horns on my head. >> angela rye. >> and dana milbank. angela, we just heard the president saying he wished republicans would stop -- and it seems the history channel has cast an actor in the role of satan that glenn beck and others say looks just like the president. i thought his greatest sin was being a kenyan socialist. now it appears he's satan as well? >> they just can't get enough. they tried to say he was born, he didn't wear a flag pin during the campaign, didn't say the pledge of allegiance. i do not united states these folks. i do not think at all this individual looks like the president. actually it looks burned, like he's been in the fire, hence

satan, but not at all the president. it's such a distracting divisive point. they can't focus on what matters, like passing a budget and get folks employed, rather than creating this image. they say it's purely coincidental, but there is another school of thought, which suggests that the produces were somehow overruled by the hidden hand of the almighty, and one radio host is now suggesting that very thing. take a listen. >> i think god guided the hands of the makeup artist and blinded the eyes of everything on the movie set while it was being recorded. and the spiritual blinders were removed sunday night when the program was broadcast nationally on the history channel.

how many clues do we need from heaven to understand that the man in the white house is the devil from hell. >> that was communicated by a human being actually. if god overruled the producers, did he it is overrule millions of americans who elected satan to the presidency? >> well, our god works in his tierius ways, his wonders to perform. that is very true. >> now he has sent off this person that evidently is satan to the holy land, so i suppose we are in the very end times here and in fact this may be your last broadcast. doesn't it make you wish they would get back to serious issues like the easter egg rolls and tours at the white house? >> that's true. speaking of misinterpretations that are biblical in size, angela. i would like you to consider rush limbaugh's take on the new beyonce single entitled "bow down." the pop star performed at the

inauguration wonderfully this year, but mr. limb bauer calls it bow down expletive. it's a total 180. beyonce is now telling women, go ahead and put up with it, because she got married. she's married to a rich guy, she's even calling herself mrs. carter on the tour. she has sheffield beyonce. she's no longer being called that. that's not the message of the song at all. here he is again today, take a los angeles. >> it's all over the place what i think of her latest album, cd, tour, what have you. it's hilarious. dawn's daughter called her why does rush hate women? the news is out that i'm out of my mis -- right, right, whatever it is. >> i believe the word he's looking for is misogyny.

if he can't understand why people thinks he hates women, maybe he should listen to some of his broadcasts. >> there's -- first let's talk about the fact. beyonce utilized this song as a homage to houston where she's born and raised, she uses a concept called chopped and screwed to really do something that's a throwback to her town. i don't like the "b" word, but i will say rush limbaugh's interpretation is completely not on point. it's like all about her saying she needs to bow down to her husband. she's talking to the young people what i call our haters, asking the haters to recognize who she is and her platform and she teamed up with best rappers insh did limbaugh is offbase. >> maybe we have all this wrong and rush limbaugh is really enlightened and believes that women are people too, but his

mouth has been taken captive by an evil spirit. maybe even satan. is that possible? >> well, again, i believe this is the work of god occurring right here, but you know, i don't understand why we even have to go down this path. we could say that's you'vely student. he's suggesting that she's bowing down because her husband is rich. she's worth $350 million. why is she bowing down to that fellow at all? but it's a little bit sad that rush limbaugh is reduced now to talking about outcoming beyonce lyrics, having nothing else to talk about. but i guess it keeps us all going a bit longer. >> i guess it does. angela rye, dana milbank, thank you for your considered response to a lunatic. thank you. coming up --

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[ female announcer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. [ female announcer ] from finding the best way... ♪ to finding the best catch... ♪ wireless is limitless. everyday republicans tells us the debt is the biggest problem. so simple, they say, that even a child can understand it. a recently published e-book for children called "mr. penny and the dragon of domeville" is an allegorical tale that depicts a bunch of pennies hellbent on

defeating domville. jared bernstein joins us and josh bauer row, a columnist for "the bloomberg view." mr. penny does not seem to advocate the cutting of government services. jared, if you were mr. penny's adviser would you by telling him the biggest threat is debt? is that economically true? >> it's not the case, though i'm not sure what i would be telling mr. penny, because i've never advised a coin before, but, no, the -- the debt is in the mid '70s, around 75%, a share of gdp. that's a lot higher than a few years ago. but there's a reason for that, because we had the great recession, and we needed to engage in some deficit spending to offset that demand

contraction. historically the debt goes up in periods like this. in world war ii, it breached 100%, then a few years later it was 50%. the debt is expected to start coming down within a few years. over the long term, there are real pressures on the debt through health care costs. that's what i would tell mr. penny. >> excellent. that's very helpful. josh, the president last week was secured on the right for suggesting there was no dead crisis in american. later in the week this is what speaker boehner and paul ryan had to say. take a listen. >> is he right, that we don't have an immediate crisis. >> we do not have an immediate debt crisis. >> we do not have a debt crisis right now, but we see it's coming. it's irrefutably happening. >> what are they doing by repeatedly fanning into flame the notion of a debt crisis, when they themselves when asked directly say exactly what jared said. in the immediate short term, it

is not a pressing issue. >> it's because it's instrumental. they want to cut government spending, if you argue we can't borrow more and can't tax moor. >> you make up an excuse. >> right. yet they don't want to be too alarmist. they don't want to cause a panic in the markets and then be blamed for it. they want to create the impression we are on the brink of that, when if fact if you look at the bond markets, interest rates are low over the short term and long term. there's no indication of what's usually ha pg when you have economic problems crated by a debt. we're just not seeing that. >> jared, in the book, the dragon starts off small, then gets very big and very scary, but by the end, it's reduced to a manageable size. interestingly that's not what paul ryan and others want. they want to kill the dragon with a balanced budget as quickly as possible, don't they? >> right. the idea of balancing the budget

over x years is really -- >> in his case ten years. in rand paul's case four or five years. >> so is, a, antithey cal to what they need to be concerned about. in fact, anytime we've ever achieved a sustainable budget packet that's brought the debt down as a share of the economy, it's economic growth has been a key component. all of that said, there are pressures from health care costs in the long term, and we do have to deal with them, but interestingly, even there, there's some hope, because the dragon -- that part of the dragon is actually shrinken a bit. the congressional budget office has pulled down their long-term forecast for the growth of medicare and medicaid by half a trillion over the next ten years. it doesn't mean we're out of the woods, but some of the cost savings issues that will be so important to solving the real

debt crisis are actually showing some signs of life. >> would you like to see less fantasy and more fact? >> and one fact i would like to see people focused on is the federal government has run a deficit in 46 of the last 50 years. so. what we need over the long term is a sustain away budget deficit. you need the dragon to be an appropriate size relative to gdp. maybe it should stabilize around 40%, 50%, but that allows us over a very long time to shrink budget deficits, and we don't need to focus on doing it over a five to ten-years window. the book is "mr. penny and the dragon of domeville." thank you both. much more ahead. like when i fell asleep at movie night with all my co-workers and i totally dream-snorted myself awake. i actually popped my head back so fast, i'm pretty sure i have whiplash. oh my go... [ female announcer ] stress sweat can happen

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on the second days of his visit to the meet, he met with mahmoud abbas, and urged palestinians to drop their demand for a freeze on the building of israeli settlements.

but in speaking later to students in jerusalem, he also asked for compromise from israelis while assuring them of american support. >> the only way for israel to endure and thrive as a jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable palestine. those who adhere to the why willology of israel ace right to exist, they might as well reject the earth beneath them or the sky above, because israel is not going anywhere. so long as there's a united states of america -- [ speaking foreign language ] you are not alone. >> what's professor, the president was affirming of bo sides, but does that not indicate that he's more a cheerleader for talks between

the arab and israeli communities as opposed to a orchestrator. >> let me be very clear. the president has given up on brokering a settlement. he tried very hard, even the first year, he met resistance, he failed, and didn't have the desire and well to force netanyahu to stop building settlements on occupied territory. the fact is after one year, the peace process no longer exists. those palestinians and israelis, i would argue, do not take his rhetoric very seriously. it's empty talk, unfortunately. >> so you don't think when he said what he is today in speeches to abbas and also to students in jerusalem, that he has any intention to kind of broker some kind of peace talks beginning? >> whatsoever. after the first year, he made a clear, strategic decision that brokering a peace settlement

would be costly political to the president. three major confrontations with the israeli prime ministers. he lost every single confrontati confrontation. he realized he had to apply pressure, he didn't have the will and desire. that's why the reality is the irony, martin is, the palestinian president asking to give up the demand -- for settlements to be stopped, it was president obama's initially who insisted that the settlements must be stopped. the palestinians basically put all their eggs in obama's baskets. there is no basket anymore. >> so if you're negative and pessimistic about the president, what about prime minister netanyahu? he's just been reelected, but cobbled together a coalition government. is there any hope in a less perhaps hawkish team that he might be able to be encouraged to enter some kind of discussion? >> martin, this is a very fragile coalition.

the priorities are domestic politics and the iranian threat. prime minister netanyahu -- i'm being blunt -- is more interested in creating facts on the ground and creating settlements on the ground than cansling out the possibility of a palestinian state. he's already won against the president. why so the prime minister and his fragile coalition engage in peace talks whereby they do nonwant to stop settlements? i would argue in the next four years, the term of the next president obama, hardly anything will take place on the peace process. >> that's very discourages fawaz georges, thank you for joining us. we'll be right back.

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